Aah,I have a feeling if they play good defensivly they will all make it on coach Carbo’s team and Kovalev will be the goal scorer for all the players lol. Your right Higgy 21,if I don’t spend any time next season “aprox 7-8 hr” a week watching this team in another total rebuilding mode, I could do something like restore a classic car or doing work for a needy charity and then in 5 years see whats up with the Habs,cause right now as it stands they are a F.W.O.T.!

I think the Rangers are gonna have a big season. They already looked like a team last year with Jagr and Shanahan, and now the additions of both Drury and Gomez will help them alot. Other than that maybe Pittsburg will do well.

In the west, I have a hunch that Calgary will do well. The ducks will remain competitive but losing Niedermayer and Selanne will slow them down. I always like Detroits chances too.

Yeah i think you are right YUP rangers are no doubt cup contenders now having said that,i think we all know what happened to the rangers the last time they tried to buy a cup.Most teams in the east have gotten stronger but some remain the same.I think the habs will start the season with this team we have right now.When you look at our roster there are not many spots available.I am not sure how the lines will be put together but here is an idea of players we have.Our first line=koivu,ryder,kovalev.Our second line=higgens,pleckanecs,kostitsyn.Our third line= smolinski,lattendress,lahti a rookie could fill this roll take your pick.Our fourth line= begin,kostopoulous,lapeirre.That leaves very little spots available.There are a few rookies imo in hamilton ready for the nhl but not enough spots avaiable.This is what bugs me about gainey not tradeing some of our depth guys away for some help now.Dont get me wrong,its never a bad thing to have alot of depth at the forward posistion but we have a crap load of prospects that will just sit in hamilton and never get a chance to make the big club.

Oh and on another note,for those of you who think lattendresse is to good for the third line keep dreaming. That is where he belongs for now.I have nothing against the kid but his skateing is a major issue.He could be the slowest and worst skater in the league.

At least we all can breathe a collective sigh of relief now that Yashin has signed in Russia–YAY!
I’m not sold on the Rangers completely. You have a bunch of guys who will all want top line minutes, and there are only three top line spots. A lot will depend on the line combinations and ensuing chemistry. They didn’t do much to shore up their defence as well. Will they have a better season than the Habs? Most likely yes.

I saw many teams in the east make significant upgrades, while the Habs did little but attempt to replace what left. Barring superb goaltending on almost every night, we don’t look like a playoff team, even should some of our young guys enjoy breakout seasons. Knowing this, it’s hard to see why Gainey even tried to load up.

So, another season where we likely won’t make the playoffs, and yet come close. So our draft choices will again be midrounders–meaning that we won’t be drafting any superstars anytime soon. Considering Gainey signed just enough position players to ensure not too many new faces from Hamilton will join the team (barring injuries), we won’t even get to see whether this crop that won the AHL title are good enough just yet.

I’m not onboard with Gainey’s vision. How long before the shine rubs off? It did for me last season, when he did nothing during the slide in Jan-Feb, and didn’t sell off assets like Souray at the deadline when the price for players was as high as it has ever been. I can’t think of any other year where we could have gotten a 1st rounder for Rivet. Souray might’ve gotten us 2 1st rounders…

Do I think I could do a better job than Gainey, you ask? I couldn’t do any worse, from what I’ve seen so far.

Well there is this to the new signings,if they falter in any way it won’t be so hard to send them down to the dogs and bring somebody up to the Habs,after all there’s only one prima donna left on the club”guess who?” And you can bet were gonna see alot of Bulldogs this upcoming season,aswell as unstopable line juggling involving both teams ,.and if that do not work all kinds of trading going on at the halfway point.I guess you could say this is Gainey rolling the bones!

Re: Getting a first rounder for Rivet… Keep in mind, the Sharks knew that they were going to finish high and therefore their first rounder was going to be a low choice, and last year’s crop of players was projected to be the worst in years, so they gave up Gorges and what is considered to be a not very worthwhile first round pick for an experienced defenseman to bring a veteran presence on their blue line, which they were missing.

As for Gainey not trading Souray, there were 2 reasons: a) The habs were very much alive for that last playoff spot, if he had traded Souray (and we don’t know that he didn’t, maybe the offers were too low?) and we missed that last playoff spot, everyone would be complaining that if we’d only kept Souray we would have made it b) I’m sure Gainey thought that by keeping Souray he’d have a good chance at being able to resign him, and he did try to resign him, but Souray’s agent just thought he was worth more than he was.

So looks like I’ll be comin’ to MTL to see the Habs play the Sabres on Oct 20, I believe. A whole bunch of us from Habs I/O are comin’…Look for my soon to be fresh- from- the- seamstress -Nigelski -Habs -jersey on a street near you come Fall…

Also coming with my Fire Gainey t-shirt, which I’ll be getting made at a headshop this Friday, fresh and new for the occasion…

Anyone living in Mtl who knows the city and wants to hang with a TO habs fan for a part of a day, e-mail me @: death2udeath@yahoo.ca.

I want to see Grabovski crack the lineup… then possibly we could have a team that looks as follows: line 1… Kovalev, Koivu, Ryder
line 2… Higgins, Plekanec, Kostitsyn
line 3… Smolinski,Latendresse, Grabovski
line 4… Kostopolous, Begin, Lapierre
d1… Markov, Hamrlik
d2… Boullion, Komisarek
d3… Dandenault, Streit
g… Halak, Huet

I’m very open to suggestion what ya may think of this projected roster… keep in my mind however, I am not sold at all on Gorges, and throughout training camp and pre-season, if any rooks step up and earn a roster spot… so be it! Go Habs Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My only concern with Latendresse is that his skating ability is horendous! Could be one of the worst in the league. He does have a mean streak though, and is not afraid to go into the corners with the best of the grinders.

Latendresse is the future captain of the Habs!The next three years are going to be tremendous for both he and the club; the big winner=the fans!If it was up to some on this site the HABS WOULD BE ALL LITTLE FIGURE SKATERS!Wake up and fill out your testosterone script before you think boys,this is the N.H.L. and not the pee-wee league,geeze!!!You should be questioning Kovalev or how the new guys are going to do?Try and learn from the play-offs,will you?

Lats is the worst skater in the NHL!!!!!! TUrner Setenson could skate laps around him. HE is young and has the size. ALthough the 2nd half of the season He thought he was a sniper and stopped playing physical. THATS A MISTAKE. Without him playing his size he will be no use to the club this year. THey would be better off having Ferland in his place if thats the case. If he plays tough and does not let the french media get to his head he can be a good 3rd liner in this league in a few years.

Agreed pepto.I still feel that it was andrei kostitsyns spot on the team but lats got it instead hmmmmmmmmmm i wonder why?.Kostitsyn should have started the season and not lattendresse.It will be funny to see kostitsyn double lattendresses points this year lol like he would have done with 82 games last year aswell

ALthough I agree A Kost has a brighter future then Lats I disagree about Lats stealing his spot. Lats had a great training camp last year and deserved to make the team. ALthough I do think it was a bit of a mistake not to send him down to the A at midseason to wake him up.